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Like any good café, this is the spot to talk about all those different things that seem interesting, but just don’t fit into any of the other categories. Sports, family, holidays, pets…whatever comes to mind.

Discussion

3 Responses to “Coffee Talk”

Time to bring back the $500 and $1,000 bill. Seventy years ago, men and women could walk around this country and pay for items with cash. And, if that wasn’t good enough, the notes could be redeemed at banks for gold and silver specie. With inflation raising prices across the board, why is it that the $100 is the largest bill a private citizen can own? That’s equivalent to a $10 in 1933. I’m thinking about starting a PAC to lobby for larger bills in circulation. Maybe the use of bills instead of credit would be seen as a positive step.

Not by Visa or MasterCard!!! Over here in Europe, there seems to be a pretty direct correlation between tax evasion and bill denomination. I don’t have data on it, but those countries (like Spain) that circulate lots of €500 and €1000 notes also seem to have larger grey/black markets and a higher rate of tax evasion. Much of it is getting around VAT, but you’d be surprised how much real estate was paid for in cash – with lots of property taxes and closing costs way under-reported.

I dare say that from a tax efficiency point of view, plastic is king. Also cash costs a lot more, doesn’t it? Paper, ink, printing, distribution, safeguarding and security, counterfeiting – all of these make bits and bytes much cheaper than the greenback.

I don’t see the Treasury going back to large denominations anytime soon. Heck, they ought to get rid of those big bills altogether.

How many men and women in this country are walking around and just paying for $1000 items in cash? In 1933, we had little option and a note was backed by Gold, today that note is backed by the GDP. A GDP that is now leveraged 100%.

As a consumer, I get 1-3% discount via use of a Credit Card. I cannot even get this rate in interest if I kept that cash in the bank for a year. The internet almost certainly allows me the opportunity to reduce that purchase even more and a Non-cash mechanism is also required. The Government is also taxing you on your Cash via Printing Money (The so called indirect tax on its citizens).